Teaching Keys
There are times when using a dichotomous key can sometimes feel like following your GPS's turn-by-turn directions: You get where you’re going but don’t know where you are or how you got there.
NameThatPlant's Teaching Keys function more like a locator map. With them, it’s a little easier to see the big picture and to wrap our brain around the decisions that take us toward the target plant. The Key probably won't take us all the way to a species-level identification, but the initial selection of possibilities should be a smaller and less daunting list —
It is the goal of these Teaching Keys to provide a framework through which one can approach unfamiliar plants, and within which the various taxa can be assembled into recognizable groupings that can more easily be sorted out.
And maybe next time we will start the process with that locator map already in our heads....
Your comments and corrections are welcome. Please write webmaster @ namethatplant.net
A Teaching Key to Asters
Inspired by Ron Lance’s handout “Guide to the Asters of Western North Carolina,” and built on that, as well as on the Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas, Weakley’s Flora, and Flora of North America.
A Teaching Key to Trillium
Inspired by “Trilliums of Georgia,” Tipularia (Patrick, 2007), and built on that, as well as on the Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas, Weakley’s Flora, and Flora of North America.
